part0016

“This is all of it?” asked Vulfort. Before him was a hollow hall full of small crates, each one sealed and marked with the Vulfort badger.

“Yes, My Lord. All of the remaining radial quartz within the city, ready to be moved. Shipments from the quarries have been halted until further notice, as you have requested. Lord Coffindwell has sent representation to negotiate the temporary cessation of the trade contract, and the detectors from the Division are here.”

A fair bit of information; the bursar didn’t seem to believe in wasting space in a breath. What interested Vulfort most was the detectors. Who had Tellor sent him? This would be the first time in almost twenty years that he would see a masking charm without his own to penetrate its enchantment.

Though he had access to the entirety of the civil watch ranks as the security councilman, Vulfort had spent decades purging the Sorcerous Crimes Division of corruption, while the civil watch had festered like a cancer. Everything from bribery, to collections, to muscle for the organized elements inside Kaharas were rampant in the watch. The detectors he could trust. The civil watch he could trust to do what suited themselves.

“Very good. I’ll have someone along shortly to inspect and stamp them,” said Vulfort, leaving the nodding bursar with his radial quartz. He went to the reception to meet with Daylas’ secretary and the Blackbows, looking up into the shifting faces of both parties. The Blackbow obfuscation charms warped their features into a random assortment every few seconds, new noses, eyes, mouths, and hair color. The secretary simply shifted between looking impatient and looking uncomfortable. He lit up as Vulfort entered, eager to finish his business.

“Ah, Councilman, splendid! I have the necessary forms here. I’ll not take but a few moments of your schedule. Please, My Lord, if you will?”

He unclasped his leather folder and opened it to reveal the agreement pinned within. He was quick to produce a pen and a small jar of ink from somewhere on his person and indicate the necessary clauses.

“Here you’ll see the promissory for continued transfer of funds while the radial quartz is in escrow. There will be a backlog, and you are expected to compensate to the order of 3% for Lord Coffindwell’s loss of profit in the interim, in exchange for the unbroken payments. Each payment will carry the same price as before, sixty silver hydras per ounce of polished quartz up to four pounds per week, totaling sixty marks at the current conversion rate. Lord Glennstock’s bank has agreed to extend credit at a rate of 2%; you can see his signature here…”

“Councilman Glennstock has seen this agreement?”

The secretary adjusted his round-rimmed spectacles. “Naturally, My Lord Councilor. Or rather, his banking house has. As to his direct involvement, I’m afraid I cannot speak, because I simply do not know.”

Little doubt, with his interest in the radial quartz. He was still on the short list for suspects that had dispatched Redbauxe to play his assassin. Still, to balk would draw suspicion. If he wanted to expose the culprit, he must be more discreet, more patient in his inquiries. He glanced at the detectors, then scrawled his signature where the secretary’s impatient finger tapped the parchment. No sooner had he withdrawn the quill than it was whisked from his hand, the signature blotted, and the secretary out the door with a curt bow. Vulfort stared after him. That secretary had been more efficient than any orderly ever assigned to him in the Division. Perhaps he might consider alternate employment.

Dismissing the bursar as well, he was left alone with the detectors. Neither wore rank or saluted, though he was still technically the commander until the turnover was complete. Detectors foreswore indications of station or rank, and yet he’d already identified both. One tall, lanky and always looking for a wall to lean on; the other straight and proper, birth comparable to Vulfort’s. He nodded to them both, “Sergeant Detector Boshea, Corporal Benedict.”

Benedict stiffened, losing his cool streetwise façade for a heartbeat. Sergeant Boshea was somewhat less perturbed, offering a knowing half-smile as his features shifted into that of a southern sea-tribesman.

“You got a masking charm we ain’t seeing somewhere, Commander?” asked Benedict. Boshea waved the younger constable off.

“How do you find the legitimate life, Commander?”

“Diverting. Any progress on the kala’del separatists?”

Benedict chuckled under his breath. “Lieutenant Charlotte put the superstars on lead. Landis and the goblin. Last I heard, she was chasing down some lead registered in Rathaven. Haven’t seen her about a day now.”

“Should you not be looking for her?”

Boshea shrugged. “Working with Landis has been… trying. Often, we lose her for days at a time. She plays close to the fire because she likes the heat, but she gets herself burned as often as not. It’s her way. It surprised me when you had me approach her to join, and then when you snagged her for detection. I thought for certain she would be a raider, but you had her marked for a spook the whole time.”

“She’s almost as strange as Stinky. Damn if they don’t tear up the town when they catch a whiff of mischief to follow, though,” Benedict added.

Vulfort had intended to make something of a pet project out of Margo Landis. She had managed to ferret out and survey the Devilbone conspiracy before the Sorcerous Crimes Division had even caught a hint of it. But injuries he sustained during the winter solstice and the need of the Patriarch for an incorruptible security councilman had forced a retirement to the Crescent Council. Left unmentored, who knew what might become of Margo Landis? Disaster, most likely.

“While that develops, I have another task requiring your assistance. I’ve become aware of an unregistered adept of some strength moving within certain circles and abusing sorcery in the course of additional crimes. I have narrowed the suspects down to three possible subjects. I shall be making my own observations, but I would like you to make discreet inquiries as to which of them it might be.”

Vulfort neglected to mention that whoever it was had tried to kill him, twice. And had successfully killed another, practically in his arms. Boshea pulled a small journal from his coat pocket, positioning a wrapped stick of charcoal to scrawl notes.

“I shall look into it personally, Commander. Who are your three potential unregistered?”

“Lord Glennstock, Lady Avarine Titanum, and her cousin, Constus Titanum.”

Sergeant Detector Boshea’s charcoal skipped across the page of his notebook. Investigating the nobility was a touchy area at the best of times. Corporal Benedict was grinning. The man would leap at any chance to shame the gentry of Kaharas. The attitude had done his career no favors, though some of his actions had made him a bit of a local legend in Kaharas. Namely forcing a well-connected watch-officer to eat several silver marks after his obstruction of an investigation.

“A councilman and two trade nobles,” said Boshea. “Wait, isn’t Lady Avarine…?”

“Yes. Disregard it for now. Her cousin and Lord Glennstock have both expressed an interest in the radial quartz as well. One of them might have been the rogue sorcerer present at the glassworks. Which, if true, would also connect them to the kala’del presence in the city. It’s unfortunate that Corporal Tanner was required for the badlands expedition. He might have been able to compare the sorcery.”

Boshea stowed his notes within an inner pocket and rubbed his chin. “He was the only raider to witness the sorcery. Speaking of raiders, Harbin is available to see the radial quartz onto the south road. Blessed Twins, I wish we knew what the elves wanted so bad with it.”

“Whatever it may be, the fact that they want it so badly makes it imperative that we deny it to them at all cost. Landis will find something, Sergeant.”